PS 104 STUDY QUESTIONS
 | What are the functions of government? |
| Why do political parties develop in nations? What is the range of political party activities? What are the types of party systems? |
| What are interest groups? What is the range of interest group activities? What are the types of interest groups? |
| What are the differences and similarities between interest groups and political parties? |
| What is ideology? Why is it important to the study of political systems? |
| Compare and contrast three major political ideologies? |
| What is political culture? What is the relationship between political culture and political socialization? What is political socialization? |
| What are the variants of political culture? |
| What are the varying forms of political participation? How does political culture impact political participation? |
| What are the various forms of representation? |
| What are the various electoral rules? What is the difference between a majority and plurality? |
| What is proportional representation? |
| How do the varying electoral rules impact representation? |
| What are multimember and single member districts? How do they impact representation? |
| What is it important to understand the historical context in which political systems develop? |
| What is public opinion? How does it differ in terms of importance across system types? |
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| What are the different characteristics of democratic, authoritarian, and totalitarian governments? |
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| What are the differences between parliamentary, presidential, and mixed systems? |
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| What is the importance of the committee system? |
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| What is the function of the party in a single party state? |
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| What is the relationship between economics and politics? Why are governments concerned about the economy? |
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| What is federalism? |
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| What is the function of the bureaucracy in most nations? How does system type impact the role of the bureaucracy? |
For the final exam, you should be very familiar with at least one nation in each group of nations--established democracies, transitional democracies, and non-democracies.
| CONTRAST THE LEGISLATURES OF THE NATION-STATE CASES IN THE BOOK. HOW DOES THE LEGISLATURE IMPACT REPRESENTATION IN THE NATIONS? |
| REVIEW THE PROCESS OF ELECTIONS OR THE FORM OF LEADERSHIP SELECTION IN THE NATIONS. |
| WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE EXECUTIVE IN EACH, WHAT ARE THE POWERS, ETC.? |
| COMPARE AND CONTRAST PUBLIC OPINION ACROSS THE NATIONS. IS IT IMPORTANT? |
| WHAT IS THE HISTORIC ROLE OF IDEOLOGY IN THE FORMATION OF THE STATE IN THE NATIONS? HAS IT BEEN MORE IMPORTANT IN SOME THAN OTHERS? |
| GIVEN THE DIFFERENT HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS
THE NATIONS, WHAT ARE SOME DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN THE PROCESS
OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT? WHAT CONCLUSIONS CAN YOU DRAW? WHY, IN YOUR
OPINION, HAVE SOME NATIONS HAD MORE SUCCESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
STABLE DEMOCRACIES THAN OTHERS? WHAT FACTORS LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF
AUTHORITARIAN OR TOTALITARIAN REGIMES IN OTHERS? |
Compare and contrast
the systems of representation and participation your selected transitional
and non-democracy nations. Your
answer should be detailed and specific.
It should reflect your reading of that section in each nation
cases.
Write and essay that
discusses the comparative differences in the political economies and
development aspects of the democracy, transitional and non-democracy.
How do economic factors impact the political and governing
processes in those countries?
How would you classify
the democracies in each, based upon the different theories of democracies
discussed earlier in the course? How
would you define the political culture in each nation?
What impact did political culture have on the democratization
process in the nations you discuss? You
should attempt to draw contrasts and make comparisons in your discussion.
Choose one democracy
and one transitional democracy. Compare
and contrast the key aspects of governance and policymaking in the two.
How do the structures of government in each impact policymaking?
If you were to advise changes in either to facilitate policymaking,
what would they be?
Describe rules of
election in FOUR nations--2 DEMOCRACIES, ONE TRANSITIONAL AND ONE
NON-DEMOCRACY, IF APPLICABLE. IF
YOUR CASE IS NIGERIA, DISCUSS THE RULES DURING PERIODS OF DEMOCRACY. How
do the rules impact representation and the distribution of power in those
nations? In your
opinion, why have the nations chosen the rules that they now implement?
Should changes be made in your opinion?
Why is the issue of
representation critical to the success or failure of democracy in some
nations? When is the issue of
representation likely to be a cause for political unrest, based upon the
cases you have studied?
In all of the nations
discussed so far and in the videos shown so far, the theme of
privatization versus state control of the economy has been consistent.
Briefly discuss the meaning and impact of privatization or market
liberalization in select nations. Discuss
how nations have attempted to implement privatization policy.
In your opinion, why is there a trend toward capitalism in the
nations?
Why, based upon your
knowledge of your chosen non- democracy, is the nation classified as such?
Why have efforts to democratize failed?
What factors impede democratization?
Why, even when elections occur, isn't the nation considered to be a
functioning democracy? In your opinion, what will it take to democratize the nation?
Based upon your
understanding of the transitional democratization process occurring in the
several nations undergoing the process, compare and contrast the
similarities and differences in the conditions existing in one
transitional nation before the process and the conditions that now exist
in a non-democracy. What can your chosen non-democracy learn from the nation(s)
now undergoing the transition?
Discuss the role of
bureaucracies in five nations.
Why are bureaucracies so important in the political systems, but
especially in non-democracies?
Several nations among
the cases have undergone revolutions.
What are the similarities in the conditions leading to the
revolutions in those cases?
Discuss the impact of
patron-client or clientalist systems?
What is the iron-triangle?
Compare and contrast
the role of ideology in the governance and politics of your five nations.
Identify the prevailing ideology.
Make
sure you are familiar with the terms at the end of each chapter.
Make sure that you know are able to identify and discuss the
significance of least five major terms from each nation case.
Be
prepared to identify some of the major leaders in the histories of the
nations.
Be
prepared to compare and contrast the following in your nations:
Political
party system and function of political parties,
Political
culture,
Identify
the forms of socialization and,
Interest
groups.
Compare
and contrast the role of the executive across your nations.
What
is modernization? Why are
many of the nations in our group of cases concerned about the relationship
between modernization and westernization?
Why, form your understanding of the nations in the process of
modern economic and political structures, is the process so potentially
politically destabilizing?
Discuss
some of the major policy areas, trends, or problems facing
the nations.
How is the political system and the political processes addressing
these problem areas?